Clutch



O. A. JONES AND J. T. FAIRBOURNL CLUTCH.

APPLICATION FILED NOV; 21, 1918 1,334,864, Patented. Mar. 23, M26.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLIVER A. JONES AND JOSEPH 'I'. FAIRBOURN, 0F BACCI-IUS, UTAH.

CLUTCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 23, 1920.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, OLIVER A. Jonas and JOSEPH T. F AIRBOURN, citizens of the United States, and residents of Bacchus, in the county of Salt Lake and State of Utah, have invented a new and Improved Clutch, of which the following is a description.

Our invention relates to clutches in which movement of a drive shaft is transmitted to a driven shaft through the medium of a liquid and in which means is provided to control the circulation of the liquid to there by regulate the transmission.

The general object of our'invention is to provide a clutch of the indicated character. improved in various particulars, more particularly with respect to the means for controlling the circulation of the liquid, the purpose being to facilitate and simplify the ad'ustment and control.

eference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, it being understood that the drawings are merely illustrative of one example of the invention.

Figure 1 is a transverse section on the line 1-1, Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line 2-2, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary end view showing the yoke for actuating the regulating valve;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the valve.

In constructing a clutch embodying our invention, in accordance with the illustrated example, a. casing 10 is provided, adapted to be fixedly supported by cars 9 thereon or in any suitable manner, said casing being formed in separable sections having flanges 11 united by bolts 12 and having heads 13 with glands 14 through which casing sections the drive shaft 15 and the driven shaft 16 respectively extend.

The driven shaft 16 has a head 17 formed with a central chamber 18 communicating with the interior of the casing 10 from which chambers radially disposed cylinders 19 emanate, said cylinders being open at both ends. The pistons 20 operate in the cylinders 19; the piston rod 21* of one piston is rigidly connected at one end to the piston and is rigid at its opposite end with the strap 22 of an eccentric 23 keyed to the drive shaft 15 so that said piston constitutes a guide or rocker arm, while the rods 21 of the remaining pistons are in the form of links each pivotally connected at one end with the eccentric strap 22 and pivoted at the opposite end to the piston.

Oil or other suitable liquid fills the casmg 10 as Well as the chamber 18 of the driven shaft and the cylinders 19 thereof so that with the turning of the drive shaft 15, the pistons 20 will be actuated to circulate the liquid and as is well understood the pistons may move only to the extent that the fluid 1s free to pass into and out of the cylinders 19 at the outer ends. In order to control the outer ends of the cylinders we provide a sleeve valve 24 about the head 17 and formed with ports 25 adapted to be brought more or less into register with the cylinders 19 by shiftin said valve longitudinally of the head 17 t rat is to say, parallel with the axis of the clutch. The valve 24 has a snug. fit upon the exterior of the head 17 but is adapted to be manually shifted from the exterior of the clutch casing, In connection with the valve we provide shifting means therefor, operable from the exterior of the casing and having such a relation to the valve as to permit the latter to rotate with the head 17, the purpose being to permit the valve to have a perfectly close fit on the head and yet reduce the friction in the retation of the clutch. Any suitable means may be employed extending from the exterior to the interior of the casing 10 and engaging the valve in a manner to permit r0- tation of the valve relatively to the actuating means. As one example, a yoke 26 having a handle 27 is disposed at the exterior of the casing and extending into th'e casing from said yoke are pins 28, the inner ends of which extend into an annular groove 29 in the valve 2 1, so that movement of the yoke will serve to shift the valve on the head 17 to bring the ports 25 of the valve into or out of register with the cylinders 19, to control the passage of oil into and out of the cylinders or to cut oil the flow of oil to thereby constrain the driven shaft 16 to turn at the same speed as the drive shaft 15 or to regulate the transmission by regulatingthe flow of the oil.

We would state in conclusion that while the illustrated example constitutes a practical embodiment of our invention, we do not limit ourselves strictly to the mechanical details herein illustrated, since manifestly the same can be considerably varied Without departure from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A clutch of the class described including a casing adapted -to contain a liquid, a drive shaft and a driven shaft extending into said casing and adapted to turn therein, a head on one of said shafts, said head having a chamber communicatin with the casing,

and cylinders communicatmg with the chamber and with the casing, pistons in said cylinders, means to actuate said pistons with the turning of the other shaft, a sleeve valve at the exterior of said head and formed with ports, said valve being adapted to turn with said head and adapted to slide thereon to bring the ports of the valve into or out of register with the cylinders, and means 0perable from the exterior of the casing to shift said valve, the valve being adapted to turn relatively to said valve-operating means.

2. A clutch of the class described including a casing adapted to contain a liquid, a drive shaft and a driven shaft extending into said casing and adapted to turn therein, a head on one of said shafts, said head having a chamber communicating with. the easing, and cylinders communicating with the chamber and with the casing, pistons in said cylinders, means to actuate said pistons with the turning of the other shaft, a sleeve valve on said head at the exterior and formed with ports, said valve being free to turn with the said head and being manually shiftable longitudinally of the head to bring the ports of the valve into or out of register with the cylinders, the valve furthermore having an annular groove therein, pins extending through the casing and engaging in the groove of the valve to permit relative turning of the valve and pins, and means to actuate said pins from the exterior of the casing for shifting said valve.

OLIVER A. JONES. JOSEPH T. FAIRBOURN. 

